Family runs for Vermont soldier at Burlington marathon

Ten years after U.S. Army Sgt. Justin Garvey was killed in Iraq, twenty family members plan to honor him by running in the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon

May 21, 2013

The family of U.S. Army Sgt. Justin Garvey, who was killed in combat 10 years ago in Iraq, has signed up to run in the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon and Relay in Burlington this year. About 20 members of the Proctor native's extended family plan to run, including his sister and mother. / Courtesy photo

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Free Press Staff Writer

The family of U.S. Army Sgt. Justin Garvey, who was killed in combat 10 years ago in Iraq, has signed up to run the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon in Burlington. Pictured, from a race last year, are Garvey's mother Angie Walsh in the center, and, from left, his cousins, Natalie Avella, Nanette Hatch, Janine D'Angelo and JoAnn Giltner. / Courtesy photo

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On the anniversary of her brother’s death, Kristin Montgomery gave birth to her first child, Kaylee. Her second child, Logan, shares that same brother’s birthday.

“I think that was his little gift to us,” she said. “To get us through the hard times of the year.”

Montgomery’s brother, U.S. Army Sgt. Justin Garvey, was killed a decade ago in Iraq. Garvey, who grew up in Proctor, was 23.

“He was the other half of me,” Montgomery said last week. “He was an all-around, true American man.”

To commemorate his death, Montgomery, her mother, and 20 or so extended relatives signed up to run the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon in Burlington. Montgomery will be coming from New Hampshire. Her mother, Angie Walsh, from Massachusetts. The others hail from as far as Illinois and Texas.

“I think he would think that it was awesome,” Montgomery said. “It’s been 10 years, but it’s like it was yesterday.”

A few members of the family intend to run the full 26.2 miles. Montgomery was a little less ambitious.

“I have not done anything physical, probably since high school,” she said. “And I have four kids. And I will probably die.”

She and her husband, Garvey’s old army buddy, intend to run the half-marathon. Walsh, Garvey’s mother, plans to run a leg of a five-person relay team.

“I’m mostly a walker, so I will probably end up walking part of my route. But I’m a very fast walker,” Walsh said. “I’m not training like my nieces that are doing the whole marathon. They’re crazy.”

Walsh has 24 nieces and nephews. Some of the nieces ran in the Burlington marathon a year ago and, inspired by a quintet of Vermont National Guardsmen who ran the race in fatigues and 45-pound packs, figured they could do something similar for Garvey.

Garvey, incidentally, served in the Vermont Army National Guard before enlisting in the U.S. Army.

“It was amazing, just to see them,” said Natalie Avella, one of Walsh’s nieces. “I crossed the half (marathon) when they crossed the half, and they had another whole half to go.”

Avella said she helped rally runners for the race through Facebook. One of his other cousins, she said, made T-shirts with a picture of Garvey and the statement, “He died for us, we run for him.”

“It’s our way to say, we haven’t forgotten you,” Avella said. “Everyone’s kind of gone on with their life, but nobody has forgotten.”

Garvey wasn’t a runner, according to his sister. He played soccer at Proctor High School, hunted and worked on his truck. He married his high school sweetheart and planned to live with her in Kentucky after the Army.

He was one of two U.S. soldiers to die on July 20, 2003, when his vehicle was ambushed near Tal Afar, Iraq.

Walsh said she thought he’d get a kick out of watching his family run for him.